@wsdot
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@wsdot If we had a rock for every time we’ve been asked “why haven’t you reopened I-5 in Bellingham yet?” we’d have another landslide on our hands. In all seriousness, we hear you. Here’s what’s happening 👇 We have to stabilize an unstable slope. That starts with clearing debris and working around the “bus-sized” boulder to prepare for drilling. Some of these rocks are too large to move with equipment, so crews are using expansion grout to crack them into smaller, more manageable pieces. Crews have been performing rock scaling, using hand tools and air pillows to break off loose rock. Now that drilling equipment is on site, they’ve mapped out the spots where they will install steel dowels 15 to 25 feet deep in the slope. These dowels help stabilize the hillside so additional debris can be safely removed. While there are no impacts to southbound I-5, you may notice some new temporary fencing. That’s an added precaution to help keep additional rocks from reaching the roadway. So why can’t we tell you when the road will be reopened? Because this work happens from the top down, and conditions change as we go. We don’t know what we don’t know. Each rock we remove can reveal new cracks or more unstable slope that has to be addressed before moving forward. And this isn’t the type of work that can be done with traffic zipping by below. We know all aspects of this are frustrating. The detours on SR 11 (no freight) and SR 9 (freight allowed) aren’t the same as I-5 and we know there are impacts in local communities as local roads provide more routes. Crews are out there seven days a week doing work that doesn’t move fast, but has to be done right, or we risk uncontrolled slides and a longer closure. We’ll keep sharing progress as the work continues.
